Affix Notes

Created by: Ms. Brezek

Affix
A word part that is attached to a base
word or a root word that changes the
meaning of the word.

2 kinds of affixes
Prefixes - A prefix
is a word part that
is attached to the
beginning of a
word.
prefix

Suffix - A suffix is
a word part that is
attached to the
end of a word.
suffix

reviewing
review

Root Words vs. Base Words

A root word is a word
part that is left when the
affixes are removed.
Root words cannot
stand alone.
Example: except
Prefix - ex
root - cept
(cept is not a word by
itself, it cannot stand
alone.)

A base word is a word

that can stand alone
when the affixes are
removed.
Example: inside
Prefix - in
Base - side
(side is a word, it can
stand alone.)

Top 5 Prefixes
prefix

meaning

example

un-

not, opposite of

unable

re-

again

reread

in-, im-, ir-, ill-

not

Inactive,
immature,
irregular, illegal

dis-

not, opposite of

Dishonest

en-, em-

cause to

enable, empower

Top 5 Suffixes
suffix

meaning

example

-s, -es

plurals (more than

one)

cats, dishes

-ed

past-tense verbs

landed, smelled,
wished

-ing

verb form happening right

now

Laughing

-ly

characteristic of

gladly

-er, -or

person who

painter, director,
teacher

Top 5 Suffixes
suffix

meaning

example

-s, -es

plurals (more than

one)

cats, dishes

-ed

past-tense verbs

landed, smelled,
wished

-ing

verb form happening right

now

Laughing

-ly

characteristic of

gladly

-er, -or

person who

painter, director,
teacher

How the meaning changes

If you can understand what the word read
means, you can figure out what reread
means. Re- means to do again, so reread
means to read again.
If you can understand what jump means, you
can figure out what jumped means. -ed
means it happened in the past, so someone
must have jumped in the past.

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